Pirouette

Chapter 1

(Picture: Kim Hongjoong of Ateez as Mireuk Cheng.)

You would think after years of being considered a freak, that he would grow use to the names. But he didn't. He hated the words that floated through his head. Freak. Freak. Freak. He was sick of the nickname that he had adopted since high school. 

Zhuang Yu-Jun had grown up with contamination OCD. For a long time he had suffered from it. He wasn't even sure himself what had caused it. But he did know that he felt safer, cleaner and happier if he was cleaning himself and all the surfaces around him. Not only did he have contamination OCD. He was diagnosed with type 1 Bipolar. A disorder that had affected him and his relationships massively.

There was something about him that had put people off being around him. But it hadn't stopped him pursuing something that he had enjoyed since he was a child. Ballet dancing. Sure before working with other people or doing any type of practising, he would often clean down the bars and his own shoes to the best of his ability. He was sure he looked bizarre whilst doing it.

Meanwhile half an hour away. A hospital, a fairly big one at that was up and running. It was known for being the best hospital around. The owner who himself was a doctor, was constantly running around, wanting to be in on all the accidents and emergencies that came to his hospital. He enjoyed running it all.

One thing many people didn't know about the doctor was his DID. But often people were never close enough to him to even get to see other alters. They rarely switched when Mireuk was at work. The others didn't have the same experience as Mireuk did for the work. 

So he was often pretty quiet about his disorder, only ever truly telling people close to him about it and what had caused this to happen. He never truly enjoyed discussing it. But who would? Talking about heavy trauma that could scare those people off never worked well. 

***

Yu-Jun was finishing up teaching his classes for the day, he had seen all his students off to their rightful parents or guardians before re-entering the dance studio. The quietness of the studio wasn't any stranger to him. He enjoyed the quiet of performing his own dances. 

He had switched on the track for The Nutcracker ballet, one of his ultimate favourites. There was something about this ballet that had always had him hold it close to his heart. His body automatically fell into step with the music and he flowed alongside it. His mind wandering as he enjoyed the moment. Letting his body follow the music and feel the energy. 

It was rare for him to make mistakes in his dance moves, if ever. He was well trained from being a child. But often then, it didn't stop professionals from causing harm to themselves. He had known that from career ending falls, where it had broken bones and made it more fragile. Or if worse came to worse spinal injuries. 

In fact, he was careful outside of the ballet studio, knowing that if he caused himself any pure damage, he could risk not dancing again. Something that Yu-Jun would be insanely frustrated at himself for. So when he did take risks, he took into account what he could do to avoid wounding himself. 

One minute. That was all it took, for his lack of focus to get him. His mind was listening to the music, but he wasn't truly focused on it. He had been thinking about the most recent events of his life. The inability to hold onto his friendships. He had tried for a long time, but it was coming. One argument after another. Manic states that had led him to stupid decisions that had affected his friendships without even remotely realising what he was doing. 

A loud thud sounded out across the room, the sound of his body crashing to the floor. But he didn't feel pain, well miniscule pain. Assuming it would just be bruising. He glanced around the room and groaned, sitting up slowly as he rubbed his elbow and took in a deep breath. He was on the floor.. The filthy floor where everyone's feet had been dancing.